The invention relates in general to food processing and in particular to an apparatus for roasting coffee beans.
As today's society develops and becomes more sophisticated, coffee houses and retail stores more frequently offer their customers an inventory of "exotic coffees". However, the demand for each particular kind of coffee is still relatively low for most individual stores and hence the coffee which is available today is often either stale when it is bought or becomes stale within a few weeks thereafter. This occurs because roasted coffee beans lose their freshness very quickly; and thus the inability to maintain a fresh inventory of roasted coffees for resale to the public is a problem for the retail establishment.
On the other hand, green coffee beans remain fresh almost indefinitely; and if the customer had access to a coffee roaster, for example at home, he could buy the green beans and roast them according to his needs. Unfortunately, however, the industrial coffee roasters which are commercially available and which are in wide use, are oriented toward processing between 25 and 400 pounds of coffee beans at a time; and while sample roasters exist for use by coffee buyers, they are large and heavy devices not suited for the average kitchen. Also, coffee roasters which are available now for restaurants and hotels require larger amounts of coffee than the average consumer can use in a reasonable time, and they are relatively expensive. Thus, the average consumer is not in a position, with the commercial apparatus presently available, to practically roast his own beans and must satisfy himself with store roasted coffee which either is or will shortly become stale.
Therefore, a principal object of this invention is a coffee roaster which is well within the financial reach of the average household, which is reliable and simple to use, which can rest on the kitchen countertop without taking excessive space, and which can be constructed in varying capacities, from one or two cups for home use to more than two cups for hotel and restaurant use. Other objects of the invention are a coffee roaster for personal use which requires little maintenance, which provides different degrees of roasting, and which has low weight and small physical size.